Raid is a part of Moscow’s hardline social conservatism and clampdown on political life.
Revealed On 21 Apr 2026
Russian police have raided the nation’s prime publishing home on suspicion that it has been disseminating “gay propaganda”, native media report.
Police reportedly seized hundreds of books on Tuesday and took Yevgeny Kapiev, the chief government of Eksmo, in for questioning. The raid seems to be a part of Moscow’s pivot to hardline social conservatism with repressive legal guidelines operating alongside a clampdown on political life and aggressive overseas coverage.
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Police focused Kapiev as a part of a “prison case on extremism” over the publication of books “coping with LGBT themes”, Eksmo communications director Yekaterina Kozhanova instructed the AFP information company.
The agency’s finance director, head of distribution and deputy business director have been additionally interrogated, Kozhanova mentioned.
Eksmo is suspected of unofficially advertising books, together with novels, that promote “homosexual propaganda” to Russian youth, the broadcaster Ren-TV reported.
An investigation into Eksmo was opened final 12 months when authorities mentioned “LGBT propaganda” had been “detected” in books printed by its Popcorn Books subsidiary they usually arrested a number of members of its workers.
Ultraconservative flip
Books exhibiting approval of same-sex relations have been banned in Russia for greater than 10 years.
The regulation has been tightened lately, requiring publishers to take away publications and destroy total editions in the event that they depict same-sex relationships.
The persecution of LGBTQ people, organisations and communities has intensified prior to now decade or in order the Kremlin heralds “conventional values”. That drive has included a crackdown on movies, books, artwork and tradition, amongst different areas of social life.
Cultural producers have confronted vital stress even after they give attention to giants of Russian tradition. Biographies of Mikhail Bulgakov, creator of The Grasp and Margarita, and the poet, actor and singer Vladimir Vysotsky should be marked with warning labels as a result of they’re seen as selling drug-taking.
The ultraconservative social flip has accelerated since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In 2023, Russia’s Supreme Court docket dominated that LGBTQ activists should be designated as “extremists” and banned actions of the “worldwide LGBTQ motion”.
Courts have issued fines and jail sentences to folks displaying LGBTQ “symbols”, corresponding to garments, jewelry or posters that includes the rainbow flag.
Out of 49 European nations, the Rainbow Europe organisation ranked Russia third from backside by way of tolerance of LGBTQ folks.
